Wheel Weight?

[Brian325i]

So I read over the thread about Wheel Weights and I think having a lighter wheel rather than a heavier wheel would be good if choosing between the two. My question is how much is too much weight? Would a 25lbs wheel be too much or should I look for something around 20lbs?

[Autotechnica]

The lighter the better. If you can find a 17" 15lbs wheel, that would make you're car accelerate and brake a hell of a lot faster. The problem is, lightweight wheels cost a lot of money. And Most German/Italian companies don't make lightweight wheels. To me, BBS is a complete rip off, they are about 17lbs for 17" wheels. Try some Japanese companies such as Kosie. They have 16" wheels that weigh about 12 lbs.

Your stock 15" wheels are around 15-17lbs. So if you keep the same weight but upgrade to a 17" wheel, you're set.

Bry

[Brian325i]

I have the 16 inch stock sport rims right now...double spoke ones I believe...any idea how much they weigh? So I take it that I'm not going to find a lightweight 18 inch wheel?

[BaLAnCe17]

i have been looking in that same field. the lightest ones i have found that i like are the oz superleggeras. 20 lbs. does anyone know the weight of the stock 16'' double spoke?

[Brian325i]

I think our rims are probably around 18 lbs but I don't know for sure...I can't find it anywhere on google.

[uiuc240]

rule of thumb is 1" per pound. So, a light 17" wheel would be any one weighing 17 lbs or less. make sense?

Also, BBS is not a rip off, they are extremely strong, extremely high quality wheels. Kosei is also good, but they don't offer the looks of BBS, IMO. I think the wheels that are a ripoff are anything resembling a "spinner" ;-)

One thing to keep in mind is TIRE WEIGHT. It has more of an effect on your acceleration than the wheel weight because it's the farthest from the center. Most hi-performance tires are quite heavy because of all the reinforcing. You should be careful in selecting tires to make sure not to gain too much weight. For instance, Falken Azenis are VERY heavy tires. They handle well, but they are some of the heaviest on the market. Basically, what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter if you save 2 pounds on the wheel if you gain 5 pounds back in the tire. In fact, that's actually worse!

Eric